Means for generating supersonic waves



July 1, w52

Filed May 10, 1945 ,4. M, Y EE L .W ,y ,02 M//N 3 S7/ y n F w MM M A J f i;

Patented July 1, 1952 'attimo lllIEAN S FOR GENERATING SWERSONIC WAVES Floyd A. Firestone, Washington, D. C., assigner to Sperry-Product'sglnc., Hoboken, N. J., a cor porationoi NewYork Application May 1o, i946,v serial No. l@163,914

4 Claims.

This invention relates to means for generating supersonic waves in solid objects. Heretoore, such waves were generated by impressing electric oscillations on a piezo-electric element, such as a quartz crystal, which then transmitted its vibrations into the solid. It is one of the principal objects of this invention to provide another means for generating suchsupersonic waves in an object.- 'Ihis means comprises striking the object with a hammer of suitable dimensions relative to the dimensions of the piece being struck and with predetermined velocity.

It is a further object of this* invention to provide a means for generatingsupersonic .wave trains or pulses by means of o, hammer.

It is a further object of this invention to provide means whereby longitudinal waves will be substantially plane upon contact with an object under test.

Itis another object of this invention to provide means for indicating the reflection of supersonic Wave trains generated in'an object by a hammer where the indicating means is an oscilloscope tion will become apparent in the following detailed description thereof.

In the accompanying drawings: Fig. l is an assembly consisting largely of an electric diagram and showing one forror or' myinvention as applied to the detection 'of flaws in a solid object.

Fig. 2 is a modified form of hammer.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of a type of hammer having a spherical end.

Fig. 4 is an end view of a hammer, showing air release passages. f l

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic representation of a means whereby supersonic waves with a substantially plane' front will contact and enter the workpiece under test.

Fig. 6 is a vertical section through a modified form of hammer for generating wave trains.

It has been heretofore known that objects could be tested for defects by striking the same with a hammer'. In all such cases, however. the object was struck with a hammer of size and type and at a velocity. designed to cause the object under test to vibrate as a whole under its natural irequency and any harmonicsv or overtones thereof. It has not heretofore been suggested that by means of a hammer supersonic waves could be generated in an object under. test preferably in theform of a wave train whereby the supersonic waves would travel into the object and be reflected back from any reflecting surfaces such as the surface of the object opposite the surface through which the supersonic waves enter, or from a defect Within the object.- A' wave train is a group of adjacent waves such that at a chosen instant there isno displacement ahead or behind (in the line of propagation) the wave group. In another form such supersonic waves could be employed by measuring the quantity of waves passing through the object. If such supersonic waves could be generated, then they could be utilized for the purpose of testing an object in the manner disclosed', for example, in my Patent No. 2,280,226, granted April 21, 1942, wherein the vibrations in the material are detected-by a piezo-electric element such as a quartz crystal andv after being ampli'ed are impressed on the sweep ci an oscilloscope.

I have found that it is possible to generate a l supersonic wave train in an object under test if the length of the hammer in the direction of striking isv sufficiently small. The frequency of vibration of a cylindrical hammer vibrating along its axis after one of its end faces has struck the work is either l! I) f 01 f-TJ depending in part on how rm a con-tact is established between the hammer' and the work, where u is the velocity of longitudinal sound waves in the hammer, and L is the length of the cylinder. The wave length of the waves radiated into the work is where o is the velocity of propagation of longitudinal waves in the work. Thus, assuming that the nrst formula above is applicable and that the length of the hammer is 1/4", and the velocity 11 of sound in both the hammer and the work is 250,000"/sec. then it will be seen from'the above formula that a frequency of 500,000 cycles/sec. will be obtained within the object under testl by' striking it with a hammer 1,45" in length and a wave length of la" will be produced in the work. If'the lateral dimensions of the hammer arelarge relative to the wave length' tiene gesteigerteamnisuaersonl wave train of 'frequency 500,000 will be gener-'-m ated within the object. Any other desired frequency may be obtained, and, in general', by the term supersonic frequency, I am referring to' vin the materialv is equal to the strain in the material at the Aelastic limit.V 'I'his .is apparentH Afrornthe formula:

Elastic limit (stress 1 t E Vm E (Youngs modulus) (ve om y o s n g (velocity. of .sound in the material) Thus, if c is 15,000'/sec. and E is '30,000,000#/ sq. in., and hammer velocity at the time of impact of roughly 10W/sec., supersonic waves in steel would have stresses approaching the elastic limit. With waves of-such strength, weak welds may actually be torn apart.

After radiating 1/z'wave the hammer tends to bounce out of contact with the work end, if it is desired to radiate a wave'tran or pulse consisting of several waves, it is necessary to provide means for holding the hammer in contact with the work during several periods of its vibration. One method ofaccomplishing this result is disclosed in Fig. 1 wherein a primary hammer ID is designed to strike an object I2 under test to generate a train or pulse of supersonic waves in the object. For this purpose the primary hammer I is connected to a secondary hammer II which has a lower frequency against the stiness of .spring I1 and longer period than hammerID. Thus. the hammer I8 will be kept in contact with the object I2 throughout a nurnber of cycles corresponding to the half period of the longer period secondary hammer II on spring Il. By suitably proportioning the primary and secondary hammers and the connecting spring, a wave train of any desired duration can be generated. The wave train which is generated in the object I2 may be detected by `a piezoelectric element which may take the form of a quartz crystal t5 in engagement with the object I2. The crystal will be affected by the pulse at the time of its generation and will also be aected by the reflections of said pulse from any reflecting surfaces such as the opposite surface of the object I 2 or from the surfaces of a defect I5 within the object. The responses of the crystal I5 to the pulses, both original and reected may be amplified by an amplifier and caused to deflect 'vertically the horizontal sweep of an oscilloscope 25. The horizontal sweep of the oscilloscope may be generated between horizontal plates from a-sweep circuit 21 which may be synchronized with the striking of the hammer Ill against object I2 by causing the hammer to close a circuit through the sweep circuit by way of connection 28. Thus, each time the hammer I0 contacts the entering surface of object I2, the horizontal sweep is generated, and thus pulses due to the initial pulse as well as reflections will vary the sweep to give a visible indication., The output of the amplier 29 is caused to displace the horizontal sweep vertically so that the initial pulse of the wave train entering object I2 will appear as an indication 30 while the reflection of the pulse from the rear surface of the object will appear as an indication 3i displaced horizontally from indication 30, the `dearee of displacement 'representing a predeter- In fact, if the hammer and the mined time interval. This time interval repre sents the time necessary for the pulse to travel to the rear surface of the object I2 and return to the entering surface of crystal I5 and is a. func-- tion of the thickness of object I2. If an indication 32 appears at a time interval less than that between 30 and 3I it represents a reflection from an intermediate reflecting surface such as the defect I8 which is thus detected.

The crystal I5 may be ring-shaped, as shown, with a central opening in which the hammer IU operates, but other forms of crystal may be employed. Thev receiving crystal I I5 may he located at some other part of'the surface of object I2 than near the hammer.

In Fig. l the high frequency short period primary hammer Ill is shown-connected to the low frequency long period secondary hammer I I by a spring Il which is diagrammatically illustrated. Other forms of resilient connection may be employed as shown, for instance, in Fig. 2 where the primary hammer I0' is connected to the secondary hammer II' through a reduced portion 35, so that the entire unit may be turned out of a single piece..

lSince it is desirable for the hammer to strike the object squarely and it is essential that the trapped air between the hammer and the object under test be permitted to escape quickly, the

lower end of the hammer may be formed as shown in Fig. 3 with a spherical portion 38 in which grooves 31. as shown in Fig. 4, are cut to permit thev trapped air to escape freely.

A modified form of hammer arrangement designed to produce a large force on the primary hammer for a considerable period is shown in Fig. 6 wherein the primary hammer I9" is connected to the second hammer II by a spring Il' which is normally under compression. For this purpose the primary hammer It" may be provided with a stem. 40 which extends through an opening 4I in the secondary hammer, the

stem 40 being provided with a flange 42 whosedownward movement under the action of spring I1' is limited by the bottom 43 of secondary hammer II. When the secondary hammer II" is moved toward the workpiece the hammers I0" and II" move as -a unit until I0" strikes the work but II" continues the downward movement. The fact that the spring is pre-compressed means that a powerful force is immediately transmitted to hammer I0" and then into the workpiece and with such force will act for a considerable period immediately following the instant of impact, during which period the primary hammer I0" will oscillate and radiate a wave train.

The hammer arrangement shown consisting of primary hammer, secondary hammer and resil-lent connection will be effective to generate a single wave train. If it is desired to generate repeated wave trains at periodic intervals, the secondary hammer may be actuated from some suitable source of periodic powerwhich may be either magnetic. pneumatic or other means. As shown, the hammer is actuated by a polarized magnet 50 which is energized from a 60 cycle source of 'current so that it may strike 60 blows per second, the blows always occurring at the same portion of the current cycle. In this mar1- ner, the indications 30, 3I and, if a defect is present, also the indication 32, will be repeated so that the eye will retain the indications, resulting in a visible indication.

It has been stated hereinbefore that, in order to generate supersonic longitudinal waves. a hammer which is small in dimension relative to the object under test must be employed. If the lateral dimension of the contact area of the hammer and work is also small compared with the radiated wave length, spherical waves will emanate outwardly from the point of impact as a center. lar wave iront the more nearly a small chord of said spherical surface approaches a plane'surface. In orderl to obtain. substantially plane wave fronts when such hammer is employed, I may utilize an interposed member in the form of an anvil 80 between the hammer and the workpiece 12,50 that if the anvil is moderately.

within the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for inspecting a solid object by vibrational wave trains, which comprises a ham mer whose dimension in the direction of motion is small reftiveto the dirrignsion-ofwtheeft i'trr'e"saiF56im"d ins for actuating the Hamirfiittrilgm engagement. with the object, whereby wave trainswwill be propagatednin QM 0bietasgdiaegsgisiieaitenibleaamf the' object as a whole, an electro-acoustic transducer WMwM--w-HFM--n engaging the surface of the object and responsive to said wave trains, means for indicating the output of the transducer including an oscilloscope having a sweep circuit, means for controlling said sweep circuit contact between the hammer and the object, and means for deflecting the sweep by the output of the transducer.

2. A device as specified in claim 1, characterized by the fact that the longitudinal dimension of the hammer in the direction of striking is equal to 'z2/2f, where f is any desired supersonic frequency and 1J is the velocity of longitudinal waves in thevhainmer.

The larger the diameter of the circu- 3; A device as specified in claim 1, character ized by the fact that the longitudinal dimension of the hamm-er in the direction of striking is equal to 1.1/21, where f is the vdesired frequency and v is the velocity of longitudinal waves in the hammer, and means for maintaining the ham-'- mer in engagement with the object for a plu rality of cycles comprising a second hammer resiliently connected to-'the iirst hammer, the period of the second hammer in conjunction with said resilient connection when the first hammer is contacting the object being longer than the period of the rst hammer.

4. A device as specified in claim l, characterized Aby the fact that `thehamrner consis-tsof 'a' unitary member having a reduced portion form' ing a resilient lconnection vbetween upper and lower port-ions, said upper portion in-conjunction with-theresilient connection having a longer period than the lower portion, the lower portion being adapted to strike the object, the dimension of the lower portion in the line of motion being such asto cause said lower portion to vibrate at a supersonic frequency on. striking the object.

FLOYD A. FIRESTONE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le o f this patent: 

